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Sunday, December 12, 2010

Al Fresco Jiaozi

We dropped by the construction site at about 5-ish in the evening one day and were surprised to see a familiar face atop an unfamiliar body. The face I could recognise, but the clothes were all wrong. He normally wears construction worker clothes. But he sauntered into the precinct in a spotless white shirt and well-fitting pants, carrying 2 bags of groceries.

It turned out that he was about to make jiaozi. A rickety table was pulled out under the blue sky. A chopping board that looked like a section of a plank was quickly rinsed and laid out. A small tupperware without its cover held water... then appeared a pair of bright pink plastic chopsticks and a big knife. He looked a little awkward and shy, because I was fascinated and staring.

I wondered if I should contain my curiosity and look away. But then, I really really REALLY wanted to learn how to make jiaozi, and I didn't much care that I was standing on a concrete slab under the blue sky, next to the steel skeleton of my household shelter. So, I plucked up my courage, caught hold of The Husband's hand, towed him over there, and asked brightly "May I watch you make jiaozi? I wanna learn."

And then he made magic before my eyes. Some flour, a little water. A few flicks of hand and wrist. The dough was ready. Chop chop chop, went the knife and the meat was all mixed up with Chinese cabbage, Chinese parsley, ginger, garlic and paprika. Salt ( a lot). Soy sauce (also a lot).

Then he got out a short end of a broom. It looked exactly like my small rolling pin. He rolled out the dough and then he showed me how to wrap it.

Voila.

They were perfect little jiaozi too. Quite unlike the leather stuffed pillows I made here. The next day, I returned him the favour with Petunia's Apple Pie which he promptly unmoulded onto a newspaper and shared with his friends. I was a little taken aback but I do admit that he did what I thought quite impossible. I've never thought it was possible to flip an apple pie over twice and have it remain intact.

Disclaimer

My kids do not endorse what I write on my blog because I see them through rose-tinted glasses and am very biased, because they are my kids. Actually, they are just embarrassed.

However, I maintain that this is MY blog and I shall write what I want, and be as biased as I want, and make all the false memories I want. They will be MY false memories and no one else's. So, kids below the age of 40 should just bugger off and not tell me what to write. Or not write.